Conventional toothbrushes include a head with tooth cleaning elements thereon. In typical toothbrushes, the tooth cleaning elements are bristles formed of polyamide, polyester, or a similar filament material. Due to the small diameter of such bristles, a toothbrush may include thousands of discrete bristles arranged in tufts and coupled to the head, each of the discrete bristles forming a distinct end point for cleaning. Toothbrushes have also been manufactured that include bristles formed of an elastomeric material thereon. However, there is room for improvement in the characteristics of such elastomeric cleaning elements in terms of softness and effectiveness in removing plaque from teeth. Furthermore, regardless of the material of construction of the cleaning elements, there exists a need to provide a toothbrush designer with additional mechanisms to adjust the stiffness of cleaning element tufts.